Video Transcript
All living organisms reproduce. What is reproduction? (A) A biological process that
produces exact clones of multiple organisms. (B) A biological process by which
new offspring are produced by parent organisms. (C) A chemical process where new
offspring inherit DNA from their mother and father. Or (D) the replication of DNA
inside the body of a parent before it is passed on to their offspring.
Life on Earth began about 3.5
billion years ago. Life has been able to persist for
such an incredible length of time because of reproduction. In fact, without reproduction, most
species will rapidly go extinct. But how can we best define
reproduction? Well, for starters, reproduction is
a biological process. We know this because it is one of
the seven essential life processes and requires biological structures and
pathways. So let’s go ahead and eliminate
answer choice (C), which incorrectly states that reproduction is a chemical
process.
The next part of our definition
states that during reproduction, new organisms are produced from existing
organisms. We call these new organisms
offspring, and the existing organisms that produce offspring are simply the
parents. This definition seems to indicate
that choice (B) is correct, but just to be sure, let’s have a look at the remaining
answer choices.
Answer choice (A) states that
reproduction produces exact clones, and asexual reproduction does produce offspring
that are typically clones of their parent. For example, most bacteria
reproduce asexually through binary fission, which produces two genetically identical
daughter cells. However, sexual reproduction
produces genetically unique offspring, not clones, so answer choice (A) is not an
accurate definition for all types of reproduction.
Answer choice (D) refers to DNA
replication inside the parent. Although the replication of genetic
material is a crucial part of reproduction, it does not encompass the entire
process, so we can eliminate choice (D) and confirm that choice (B) is the correct
answer. Reproduction is a biological
process by which new offspring are produced by parent organisms.
